Car Free Fridays Continues . . .

Thank you Mount Lebanon

Hello East Liberty

We had a fun launch to Car Free Fridays on May 21. A perfect compliment to Bike to Work Day. It was a great chance to promote the new Bike Commuter Center Downtown. Prior to the event five spaces remained available for lease. Now the new facility is sold out! A pretty good indication that there’s a demand for a lot more.

Over 240 people took the car free pledge and we had our most successful Bike to Work Day in Pittsburgh to date.

All of our sign up locations saw more non-car traffic than ever. Downtown, Oakland, South Side, Mount Lebanon, and East Liberty all saw record numbers. Bicyclists enjoyed the extra benefit of receiving a light bite to eat – thank you Aldo Coffee, Carnegie Mellon, the East End Food Coop, REI, the University of Pittsburgh, Verde Good Bean, and Whole Foods Market!

Trek bikes, Chris from Thick Bikes, and Ted from Ted’s Excellent Bike Repair were on hand to lend a wrench as well to help make the day a success. Not only did we see people using alternative transportation, but we even convinced a pet or two not drive alone to work.

One reason for the excellent turn out this year was the added support of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and Trek Development. Not only did these two organizations play a pivotal role in getting the Bike Commuter Center built, along with Commuteinfo, but their enthusiastic contribution in organizing Bike to Work Day was a huge lift.

The fun continued into the night at Clearview Common in Mount Lebanon. Lots of people were out strolling along Washington Road as the local alt country band City Dwelling Nature Seekers created the sound track for a mellow vibe on a pleasant Spring evening.

A week later the festivities continued with the car free walking tour hosted by the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. So many people signed up for the walk they had to break the group up into three. It was so interesting to hear about the history of Mount Lebanon, including stories of many of the buildings. We got a chance to walk up to the bell tower at Southminster Presbyterian Church and learn all about the unique art of Quasimodo.

As usual thanks to our sponsors, partners, and many many volunteers! Car Free Fridays happens because of them.

Check out the Car Free Fridays website

to see what’s on tap next week June 18th

as we feature East Liberty.

Not a member of BikePGH?Join today!We need you to add your voice! Bike Pittsburgh works to protect cyclist’s rights and promote the vision of making Pittsburgh a safer and more enjoyable place to live and to ride. For more info, check out: www.bike-pgh.org/membership.....